Seeman, A Brief time Film maker of variety and Vigor.

 













      There are longtime film makers creating records with their focus uniquely fixed on their choice of one specific theme.It could be a family story, a rural tale, an absolute romance,an action thriller, a comedy track, a horror zone, a mythical fable, a historical narration,a psychological display or a spiritual  portrayal.At the most one could think of mixing comedy and romance in all these types of narration.But mostly, film makers get interested in any one of the areas of narration and go on making as many films as possible.A majority of film makers confine themselves to any one of the themes and try to excel in their narration.At times even small time film makers get locked up with one theme.For instance Rajiv Menon who did just two films could not cross his pet zone of romance both in Kandukondein Kandukondein and Minsaara Kanavu. Whereas, one could see director Seeman as a different film maker, who did five Tamil films with a sense of variety in his creativity.
   Today Seeman is seen more as a sensitive politician than a film maker.As this blog is exclusively meant for films it has no room for making observations about the political side of this brief time film maker.But there is a lot to say about his exceptional attributes of film making.Not inducting more than three heroes, Seeman has made five films with five different themes, that can not be related to one another. Prabu,Sathyaraj and Madhavan have been his three heroes. Paanchaalankurichi, Iniyavale, Veera Nadai,Vaazhthungal and Thambi are the five films he has made.While Prabu was the hero of the first two films,Madhavan was the protagonist of the last two. Satyaraj donned the role of the hero for Veera Nadai. Similarly three music composers took care of the music component of Seeman's films. Deva composed music for Panchaalangurichi,Iniyavale and Veera Nadai and Vidyasagar{background score by Mani Sharma} and Yuvan Shankar Raja were the music composers for Thambi and Vaazhthungal respectively.
     What makes Seeman a special film maker is his variety and vigor in narration. Seeman always sticks to the ground realities of his subject matter. His first film Panchaalankurichi which he directed when he was quite young, was an emotion packed rural drama with its intrigues and maneuvers of family feuds and delicate touches of romance.The film also carried a couple of  twists in narration.Both Prabhu and Vijayakumar took the film to its deserving heights and Madhubala with her refined and delicate portrayal, enriched the quality of romance. Panchaalankurichi was in compact form, with necessary emotional outbursts adding heaviness and efficacy to Seeman's sentimental narration of events.The film which opened with Seeman's acknowledgement of respect and gratitude for director Bharathiraja, became one of the best films of Prabhu and brought great credit to Seeman as a film maker.Incidentally, it was Seeman who wrote the story and dialogues for Bharathiraja's Pasumpon,which was the great director's yet another poignant narration of rural, family drama, with Sivaji Ganesan donning a catchy role and Radhika making an outstanding performance.
       Veera Nadai with the tall performance of Sathyaraj, did not go very well with the audience. Besides Satyaraj, the film had Kushboo,Chandrasekar,Arun Pandiyan Goundamani and Sendhil. One can always count on the brilliant performance of Sathyaraj when it comes to rural themes. His absorption of the village routine on the whole, is almost  part and parcel of his making as a person.No doubt he did his best as Periya Karuppan in Veera Nadai. Unusually, the film did not have the comedy parade of the duo Senthil and Goundamani which was popular those days. This was because Senthil played a negative role in the film, as the paternal uncle of Arun Pandian  who played villain.To be on a different line, the film also begins introducing the villain and his family, with their scheming mindset. Goundamani's verbal efficacy was a great feature of the film. The other notable aspect of the movie was Seeman's dialogue segment with a significant punch here and there, on what bravery really is.However, the movie was not a perfect Sathyaraj hit, in the line of his other films on rural lines like Thaai Maaman, Senadhipadhi,Vallal,Vela Kedachiduchu,Therku Theru Machan, Vaadhiyaar Veetu Pillai, Vandicholai Sinnarasu,Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi, Mallu Vetti Minor and Vaazhkai Chakkaram .
    Iniyavale was a subtle tale of romance depicting the highly vulnerable nature of womanhood as reflected in the characterization of Suvalakshmi.The narration was breezy with noticeable underplay of emotions in the character portrayal of the hero played by Prabhu. The movie impressively dealt with the psychological intricacies in man woman relationship and was less melodramatic when compared to Paanchaalangurichi. Deva's musical component was an added support for the film as in Paanchaalankurichi. Like Prabhu's other romantic roles watched in Raajakumaran and Uthamapurushan, Iniyavale projected the Chevalier's son in a helpless situation, struggling to establish his own inclinations and creditworthiness.
     Madhavan's two movies directed by Seeman were of totally different themes. In Thambi, Seeman could take the credit for portraying  the ever soft chocolate boy Madhavan, as a revolutionary hero, with a cry for justice and a passion for fighting evil. Thambi's introductory note stating that it is our enemies who decide which weapon we have to take,made a refreshing beginning on the big screen.It was an action film and the dialogue segment of the film was an extraordinary treat, thanks to the force and fineness of expressions from Seeman's hands.There was action, there was elegant romance {Pooja's cute overtures to the hero need a special mention} and above all, there was the climax of generous revenge, pictured in the form of the hero reforming the villain, by his noble act of saving the villain's mother at a crucial juncture. All these positive notes made one feel that Thambi could be rated as the best film of Seeman.
   Madhavan's other film Vaazhthungal in the hands of this variety spinning  director was a fine tale of love and family bonding.It was an aesthetic show of a hero, looking for a life partner, who would not discard his parents after marriage. The theme of the film was itself exquisite to make the film worthy of a decent family watch. Madhavan and Bhavana who were also paired in another film Ariya, did a graceful role delivery in Vaazhthungal. Seeman showed that he would do a different touch in each film and not travel on the same track.Besides making films he has also acted in a few films like Amaithi Padai,Magizhchi,Pori,Pallikkoodam, Mayaandi Kudumbathaar and Nagarja Chozhan M.A; MLA . Of these,his role performance in Mayandi Kudumbathar  became remarkable.May be he would have given us more of his creative stuff and performance ability, had he not picked up politics on the way of his film journey.Perhaps this is another streak of his capacity for variety in performance.Let us wish him well.
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